Environmental Issue & Sick Building Syndrome Blog

Interior French Drain Systems Simplified

September 20th, 2014 8:45 PM by Dan Howard

The contractor jack hammers up the
floor. He then drills holes in the walls to collect the water running through
the foundation walls into a four inch pipe with holes.There is some gravel poured around the pipe. The pipe is then connected to a covered
plastic basin with a pump. The pump then sends the water outside of the house
through a plastic pipe. The top concrete is then replaced. The customer then writes
a very big check and cleans up concrete dust for the next month.

When you leave an opening in the
floor to allow water to go down, the gases, mold and radon can come up from
those openingsa house acts like a chimney pulling air from
low areas into upper areas. That is how radon and other gases that are under a
basement floor get into the living area of homes.

In most systems of these systems,
there is a plastic corrugated material installed between the concrete floor and
block wall. This is installed to allow water to run into the drain. This is
referred to as "egg crate."There are also systems with other materials and shapes that are
similarly open.